"two nights of rioting in the town of Rosarno in the southern Calabria region, with immigrants saying they were sick of being treated like "animals", living in squalid conditions and being paid rock bottom wages for picking fruit and vegetables."

Yet isn't that what they expect when they arrive illegally in Europe?

"We're here to work. I risked my life to come to Italy by sea," said a Moroccan, Ahmed. "I thought I"d find paradise, instead my life here is hell."

Did he expect to find seventy virgins as well? And who is responsible for this misinformation about conditions for illegals in Europe? Every immigrant seems to own their own internet cafe, so it seems likely that more accurate information would have been spread throughout the world. Immigrants arrive in Europe aware of all their "rights" and knowing exactly which benefits they are entitled to claim.

"What is needed now is to calm the situation in Rosarno. There is mafia, exploitation, xenophobia and racism there. You have to go to the roots," said the leader of the opposition Democratic Party, Piero Bersani."

The left wing parties do like to put the blame on their own "racist" citizens, while Lega Nord interior minister Roberto Maroni put the blame squarely on "too much tolerance" of illegal immigation. Guess which one the human rights groups condemned?

The Irish Independent comments:

THE solution to Europe's tension over immigration does not lie in the violence of southern Italy in the past week, or in the government's sharp and inflammatory response. The explosion of rioting in the Calabrian town of Rosarno has led to an ugly evacuation of immigrants, mainly African, that has been dubbed "ethnic cleansing".

No one questions the pressures on Italy from the flood of immigrants, many illegal. Italy, with Spain, bears the brunt of illegal traffic into the European Union.

Both countries have long coastlines, impossible to police, which face Africa, and in Italy's case, the east as well. Immigrants from Albania, Afghanistan, Central Asia and Africa line up to try their luck at penetrating the EU's borders.

Many succeed. That, at least, is the popular image of EU immigration, and it has strong roots in reality. If you fly over Europe at night, coming from Afghanistan, say, you pass hours looking down on darkness before finally being transfixed by the dense, orderly web of the lights of Europe's cities, the image of a pinnacle of development and affluence. Europe will continue to be a powerful lure for those in the poorer countries to its south and east. The growth in their populations and the stagnation of Europe's own will ensure that the pressure is not going to go away.

The Italian riots have been fuelled by accusations that immigrants, legal and otherwise, are taking jobs from locals. But the reality is murkier. Many workers have been courted by local producers to do jobs that Italians, at least in boom times, have not been keen on.

In a population of 60 million, there are about four million legal immigrants, but there are thought to be many more illegal ones. In the clash that sparked the two-day riots, local youths allegedly shot at two African fruit pickers with pellet guns. Violence spread across the town as cars were set alight. More than 1,000 workers, many from Ghana and Nigeria, were then taken by bus and train to emergency detention shelters.

The police said the evacuation was for the immigrants' protection, although it is not clear how many left willingly. Many townspeople applauded as the buses left.

The government and opposition are agreed on only one point: in blaming organised crime, which still has a strong foothold in the region, for many of the facets of the tension -- from encouraging the immigrants to move to Italy, to backing the sprawling camps in which many of them live, to (in unspecified ways) provoking the clashes. But Roberto Saviano, author of the bestselling 'Gomorrah' about crime gangs, said that immigrants were often more courageous in standing up to organised crime.

The Pope called for tolerance of immigrants, but Roberto Maroni, the Interior Minister, caused uproar among human rights groups with his statement that the Rosarno tension was "the fruit of the wrong kind of tolerance". That is consistent with the long opposition to immigration from right-of-centre parties. But they will be criticised too if the tension continues to flare, and if the response is as ugly as that of the past few days.

I was in Italy recently and spent a bit of time looking around Venice, as well as a few other towns and cities in the Northern part of the country. The one thing that stuck me was the amount of blacks just lounging around in the streets in the centre of the towns, the vast majority of them being men. I asked my Italian host what he thought about the situation and he told me there was going to be a major confrontation in the not too distant future as the blacks get very fresh with the Italian woman passing by. He says none of them work and simply live off social security. They are already much hated, despite most of the Italians initially wanting to give them the chance to integrate. No longer it seems, thank god.

What really irks me is when they refer to these Black whorechildren as "migrants"...not "illegal imigrants"...simply "migrants".

In every european country it is the same. Whenever the right demeonstrates, they are refered to as "rightwing extremists". The left can never be extreme. When the right demonstrates the left rocks up in record numbers, taunt them and throw them with bottles. When the right responds, it is always, "Look at the evil rightwing facists and racists..."

The left can simply do what they want and they are always the darlings.

Futher. What is the story with these Blacks in Italy? If they think the White Italians are such racists, why do they want to be there? Why go to a racist country that will simply discriminate against you? Why not just stay the fuck in your own fucked up African paradises?

Another thing...We have liberal whites who call for multiculturalism and multiracialism...whites who want to allow the Blacks into white western countries. Where is the Black equivalent of White liberals? Where are the Blacks calling for more European Whites to emigrate to AFrica or Jamaica for that matter? Hell, where are the Chinese, Japanese and Indian equivalents of White Liberals calling for whites to emigrate to their countries? Where are the Muslims calling for White Christians to emigrate to Saudi?

Could it be that these other races are actually far more racist than Whites and White,self-hating liberals are just too stupid to see it??

Have you been recently in Athens centre at night?A friendly advice to all.Do not attempt it.You ll think for a moment that you are somewhere in Africa!!An example.There was ( and i do not know if it still exists ) an abandoned building that was hosting 500 blacks!!!!!!

This whole immigration issue is a pickle. Its easy to blame colonialism for some of the reverse immigration (Africa to Europe), but after a little while that becomes a stale excuse.

1). Most of these people are running away from african (black) induced poverty due to corruption and inept governance. This is a fact and until Blacks accept this, we are going nowhere.

2). Europe has always loked down on africans or other non-europeans and always makes it difficult for them to integrate. Just look at the "successful" integration of muslims.

3). Most of the african migrants you find in europe are those that went there illegally. For the most part they are uneducated, poor, desperate people, and when there, they act like it. A similar situation is when you visit Canada and see how the Somali refugees act - same way. However, in America for the most part for an african to come here they have to go through a lot of hoops - thats why the african blacks in the US are more educated than african - americans.

4) SIMPLE BLACK AFRICAN STUPIDITY. The best example being Mugabe. If I was him and I hated white people so much, after expelling them from the farms, I would give the land to the most qualified black farmers including graduate students from agricultural colleges, supply them with the raw materials they require and access to credit facilities, so that when the agricultural industry thrived and we continued being able to feed ourselves, then I could thump my nose at the white world and say, "see, we dont need you." However, we all know the story of making extremely important decisions based on emotions, however justified the emotions may be.

5). This may come as a surprise, but to me, africa's greatest enemy are these "self-hating liberals." who will proclaim that we are all equal. I am sorry to say, but not all cultures are equal. some are:A). Progressive, creative and are forward thinking.B). Retrogressive, backward, inept and lazy. you can then include all the sins you want to either group A or B. WE ALL HAVE THEM.I prefer a right wing nutcase insulting me about how backward africans are, rather than a yellow-belly lefty saying, "oh, we are all equal, its not so bad that you are starving and killing each other. At least white people kill other races and not each other. Blacks and arabs - TRIBALISM IS THE WORD.

Is it a wonder the happiest place in the world Denmark is actually majority etheist, while some of the worst countries are the heavily religious islamic countries (Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Somalia, etc).

Sorry if my response seems convoluted and all over the place, just sharing my own thoughts. I am just one of those blacks who are so worried that right now Africans do not want to look into the mirror and see their faults. Its easy to continue blaming others for our own failures. One day, the white guilt will fizzle and when they see an emaciated child on the TV screen, they will just change channels - OH, Its already happening.

1. That's true, but doesn't really account for North Africans or Turks, who have their own countries on the edges of Europe. Most of these immigrants immediately go about setting up "African" enclaves within European cities, giving rise to the question of why they bothered moving in the first place. The Welfare issue is too hard to ignore.

2. Yes, and many do integrate. More don't because they have contempt for Europeans, as Muslims have always had.

3. That's also true. Western countries take the cream of the crop, through strict immigration policies, and then the absolute worst of the worst - criminals and illegals - but nothing in between. And we call this diverse?? Canada is a good case study. The Somalians are flown there at the taxpayers' expense often, and have no excuse for their appalling behaviour.

4. Sheer arrogance. And hate..

5. Many African-American conservatives say the same thing. Particularly Shelby Steele and other black Republicans.Whatever you can say about racism, at its heart is judging others by one's own standards - liberalism is patronising and thoroughly racist.

As for religion? Disagree with you on that one - it depends on the religion. North Korea is pretty atheist, as was Pol Pot's Cambodia, Stalin's Russia and Mao's China.In the 20th century I would say far more people were killed for their religion rather than killed others for theirs. But that's debatable.

Anon 6.30. Keep the dialogue going and please continue to visit our site. We need tough skinned blacks like you to tell it like it is. A reason that I became a contributor on this site is because I wanted to resolve my feelings of anger and hatred towards blacks. I must say, I think I've come a long way. It's only because people have been too dishonest to tell it like it is (blacks and whites) that I developed the problem in the first place. Be warned though, our readers are very angry at your race. But since you are being honest I support your right to have your say.

On religion, believe it, its killed more. Hitler himself was blessed by the catholics. And yes, etheism has its evil side (Stalin, mao, pol Pot). My point was about positive side of atheism, which ascribes to the upliftment of human knowledge and basically tries to improve the human being. I was once religious, but not anymore. My parents are very religious christians and I deeply respect them becoz they have used their beliefs to be better people and to help others. And it was the religious upbringing that moulded me to be the kind of person who never shy's away from my negativities, or the truth, but to face it head-on, learn from my mistakes and weaknesses and become a better person.

What I see as a huge roadblock for africa's development is DENIAL.1). Corruption is excused, persecution of the "lesser" accepted.2). In the US, a police cadet who graduated in the morning can arrest a drunk Senator that same night without fear - Try that in Africa?3). Ofcourse nepotism exists everywhere, however in the US, a guy employs his qualified nephew, whereas in Africa, it does not matter if the nephew can read or write.

I know we as black africans come from a huge disadvantage (jump from simple chief-based tribal kingdoms to administering countries with different groups and interests). What I hate is that we are failing to do the very basic things.a). When I go to government offices for an ID or other doc, officer should just process my paperwork with the best efficiency, rather than slow things down in order to solicit a bribe, I mean dude - that is your job, and I am not supposed to subsidize it.b). A politician will build a mansion overlooking a shanty-town and feels good that he is the only rich person around, instead of bringing up the others. My favorite being a guy building a tarred road to his mansion (tax-payer funded), while the rest of the community drives in pot-holes.c). I have been following the crime rate in SA, and what erks me more than the heinous crime is the COWARDICE. Raping and torturing an old white man or woman does not make you a man. If you really hate "amabhunu" that much, why not attack the young, fit well-armed males?d). This I hate the most - THE IDEA THAT GOVERNMENT IS OUR SAVIOUR. This leads to dependence on the Government, while also giving the corrupt leadership fodder to remain in power as long as possible.

Digressing to another topic, maybe for another discussion. In your country, we all know the reason most blacks still get social grants is becoz of the remaining tax paying white population. My questions are:1). What do you think will happen when the white population becomes too low to support the huge welfare system?2). Personally I forsee a civil war, pitting Zulu's and Xosa's with whitey/Colored/Indian being blamed for all black problems (you guys will be hit by both sides). Do you see the emergence of a new Capeland (Northern+western cape), or a hasty american evacuation at Cape and Durban harbours)?

All other illegal activities are punished. Why not this one. Herd them into labour camps - let them work off their debt to the country the "invaded" and then ship them home.

Arsezania is getting into MASSIVE KAK because our inept government has thrown open our borders to all sorts of scum, mainly from Nigeria (I have yet to meet one who was not a pimp or a drug lord or some kind of gang-banger). Others from various countries enter the country illegaly and then bribe their way into the system. Claiming my tax money as their own and stealing from South Africans. There is a big fight coming. The "Zena"-phobia of last year was a little blip compared to what South African black will do to these people when they start starving in earnest.